Inventory consists of items owned by enterprises and which flow through supply chains. Items include raw & packaging materials, ingredients, parts, components, assemblies & sub-assemblies, work-in-process, and finished products. People aren’t inventory nor are equipment or assets which enable the transformation, storage, handling, or conveyance of items. Inventory typically also does not include operating supplies,Continue reading “Inventory: When It’s More of a Problem Than It is an Asset”
Category Archives: The Supply Chain Engineer
What Makes a Supply Chain Visible?
This is the third (3rd) time I’m correcting myself regarding Supply Chain Visibility. I erred in my first essay published on June 01, 2020, We Need Better Monitoring Systems, when I said: “two things comprise a monitoring system: visibility and guidance.” And I erred again in my second essay dated December 09, 2025, Supply Chain Visibility:Continue reading “What Makes a Supply Chain Visible?”
Solving Urgent Problems in Supply Chains
A shipping manager of a medium-sized consumer goods company is dispatching deliveries one morning. One of the company’s trucks unfortunately won’t start. The driver says the battery is dead. The truck is loaded with products a customer ordered and is waiting to receive. The truck is twenty (20) years old, and the manager already securedContinue reading “Solving Urgent Problems in Supply Chains”
What is the Problem in the First Place?
I went to a branch of a local drugstore to buy a small bottle of mosquito repellent lotion. The branch didn’t have any stock but the nice lady behind the counter checked her computer and told me to go to another branch which was a short five (5) minute walk away. I went to theContinue reading “What is the Problem in the First Place?”
How Do Supply Chains Fit into Your Firm’s Priorities? (Wrong Question)
Supply chains are the lifelines of the products & services of enterprises. Hence, executives should manage their enterprises’ supply chains to ensure they will meet strategic goals. Nice answer. Wrong question. Supply chains don’t fit into the priorities of enterprises. It’s the other way around. Enterprises must fit into the supply chains they are linkedContinue reading “How Do Supply Chains Fit into Your Firm’s Priorities? (Wrong Question)”
Lost Opportunities are Unsolved Problems
A company was stuck in a vicious cycle. The company delivered orders late. Customers did not pay right away for deliveries received, citing the tardy arrivals of their orders. The ensuing tight cashflow caused delays in purchasing and importing critical raw materials. Manufacturing could not make products on schedule. Logistics, therefore, could not deliver pendingContinue reading “Lost Opportunities are Unsolved Problems”
The Challenges & Benefits of The Physical Count
A finance executive of a metals manufacturing corporation wanted a physical count of all items at the company’s plants. And he wanted it done in two (2) days. A physical count consists of a team identifying, counting, and tagging items, such as products, work-in-process, and raw materials. The purpose of a physical count is toContinue reading “The Challenges & Benefits of The Physical Count”
Inventory Record Accuracy: A Step to Supply Chain Improvement
Managers of a large food condiments manufacturer bragged that their finished products Inventory Record Accuracy (IRA) was 99%. They added that they met this level constantly, not just when I as a consultant was there auditing the manufacturer’s supply chain operations. How do you compute the IRA? I asked the warehouse manager. The warehouse officeContinue reading “Inventory Record Accuracy: A Step to Supply Chain Improvement”
Supply Chain Visibility: Monitoring & Measurement
Supply Chain Visibility is the ability to observe the activities and movement of merchandise from their sources to their final destinations. When it comes to setting up a system of visibility, two features must be present: monitoring and measurement. The first is monitoring in which its effectiveness depends on the abilities to sense, detect, andContinue reading “Supply Chain Visibility: Monitoring & Measurement”
What Do You Want from Supply Chains?
There is no straightforward answer to this question. Supply chains have multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders consist of individuals and enterprises which serve as the links of the supply chains. Every enterprise also has an internal supply chain, which makes the people of the enterprise stakeholders to the larger supply chain. Stakeholders, therefore, would differ onContinue reading “What Do You Want from Supply Chains?”
